The Blind Side - now with pictures

I think this is part of the point, and the reason the story is so real. We live in a world where any kid that is 6-5 to 6-8, weighs around 300 pounds and can move fairly well is going to be looked at for his potential to be the next Ogden, whether the potential is actually there or not.

People didn't latch on to Oher because he was that good, it was because he someday he might be. Like in basketball when a coach says "you can't coach 7-2," well in football you can't coach 6-7, 320.

 

If people respond to it emotionally, well, hey, good. There's plenty of mushy goodness that speaks to me that nobody else seems to like. I just wish it were more adult. The little kid ruined the movie for me, sorry. It ceased being a movie when he was on screen. Him working the coaches for benefits seemed to drag on interminably. The scene with Oher's estranged brother is dropped with no followup. Bullock's character could have been dialed down a bit. There are complaints that the movie seems to want to preen and celebrate things its makers did absolutely nothing to earn. "Hey, we're making a movie about this story, aren't we super?" I don't know if I'm totally on board with that, but it bears a closer look.

 

I've pointed this out before (maybe even earlier in this thread), but the reason Lewis zeroed in on Oher is because he and Sean Tuohy went to high school together. No way he gets that kind of access if there's not a pre-existing relationship with the family.

Lewis admits it in the book, but in a slapped-together afterword. Makes me think he didn't want to disclose that he basically fell ass-backward into the Oher story, but the publisher made him do it.

 

The last chapter and the afterword are kind of the whole "Magic's secrets revealed" moments that, yeah, kill the whole damn thing if you read them first. I don't give a shit about his relationship with the Tuohys. Lewis, in this form, is not bound to the same rules as a traditional journalist. You do wonder if, perhaps, he painted them more happily than, say, Jeff Pearlman would have, but they both certainly have flaws.

As for some of the issues with the movie, and I am not saying these excuse anything, but the kid was cutting deals in the book. It was kind of hokey there, too. As for the meeting with the brother, that was based on a meeting with another foster child, not his actual blood.

 

The girl who plays Collins Tuohy just happens to be named Lily Collins ... oh, and is the daughter of Phil Collins from his second marriage. I looked this up because I was interested in her ... career ... career, yeah, that's the ticket!

All things aside, a solid movie. Not spectacular, but solid. I don't know what language Coach O was speaking in, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't English.

 

I would agree with you. I thought the movie was decent, I'm glad I saw it, but there were too any aspects of it that were over-the-top.

1. Kid brother. How many football movies are packed with kids who act beyond their years? SJ helping Oher get recruited. SJ coaching Oher through conditioning drills, etc. etc. It was annoying in Remember the Titans and it's annoying here.

2. I thought there was about 10 too many scenes where it's set up for Oher to make a comment that stuns the family about how tough he's had it. Where Sandra Bullock basically beats it out of him and then when he finally tells her he has no clothes or no picture ID or no birth certificate or whatever, her jaw drops.

3. The protecting his family theme was a little overplayed.

Overall, though, there's a lot to like about the story, and I am glad I saw the movie. There are a lot of sports movies I like better, though.

 

I'm perhaps more familiar with the Oher story than I should be.
The movie played with some details that bothered me. Changed the name of the high schools. Changed the name of the neighborhoods in Memphis.
The movie didn't really emphasize how good an athlete Oher was. He was a Tennessee Mr. Basketball at the private school level. It didn't go into the assistance that the NFL and NBA helped out the Touhys. As an interior designer she was connected to pro athletes. She called around and got him clothes to wear that actually fit.
As for the hoops, I could understand why they didn't include that, but the rest. I think it could have been worked in and wouldn't have hurt the movie.
As for the motivation. I don't think that at first they were trying to steer a kid to Ole Miss. I think it was a combination of white guilt and Christian charity and some other reasons that the family probably couldn't explain.
What they did wasn't exactly accepted in Memphis at the time. Wealthy white family takes in black teenager. Nope, didn't go over so well.
Now as Oher progressed, I think the family enjoyed the attention. And, yeah, Ole Miss entered the picture then, but, like I said, at first, I think the Tuohys did it because they thought it was the right thing to do.

 

The thing of it is, this director also did The Rookie, a fine movie with a much lower cheese factor.

 

His recruits and fellow coaches agree.

 

IIRC from the book, Patrick Ramsay (who the mom is on the phone with briefly in the movie) couldn't get clothes for Oher because he was too big.

 

I should point out that Bullock was born in Virginia and has made her home in Austin for several years now.

 

Was it G-rated? It was a better movie, IMO. The baseball scenes could have been improved upon, but it was decent fare. My wife hates baseball and makes time for it every time it's on. It also has a precocious child actor, but he is fairly restrained, as they need to be. I don't know what possessed Hollywood to think that nine-year-olds are funny.

Somebody I know met Bullock in a distinct social setting, said she was boozy. Looked great in the movie, though.